Top Cat: The Movie
(Australia) |distributor = Warner Bros. (USA, Mexico, Worldwide) Vertigo Films (UK only) Viva Pictures (USA only) |release date = September 16, 2011 (Mexico and Latin America) June 1, 2012 (United Kingdom) August 2, 2013 (United States) |runtime = 90 minutes |language = English Spanish |budget = $3 million |gross = }} Top Cat: The Movie (also known in Spanish as Don Gato y su Pandilla, literally "Top Cat and His Gang.") is a 2011 3D Mexican-Argentinian flash-animated family comedy film based on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series, Top Cat, which ran from 1961 to 1962 on ABC in the United States. The film was released throughout Mexico and Latin America in 2D and 3D selected theaters on September 16, 2011 and it was a critical and box office success. The English version, released in the United Kingdom on June 1, 2012, was largely panned from critics and fans alike, but still was a box-office success as well. It was also released in Spain on June 22, 2012, in Australia on August 22, 2012, in India on November 9, 2012,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghOK7Azu5R8 and in Russia on November 29, 2012. It is set to be released in 3D on August 2, 2013 in the United States.Check out a Trailer and Clip from the Animated Top Cat Feature Film Plot During lunch with Benny, Top Cat spots a female cat walk by them. Excusing himself, Top Cat quickly runs after the female cat, interrupted by Griswald, but soon gets him out of the way and meets up with the female cat, who introduces herself as Trixie. While she finds him amusing, an alley cat isn't her type. At the alley, Top Cat catches news of the Maharajah of Pookajee, known for his generosity and his rubies are just what Top Cat needs to impress Trixie. Top Cat and his gang head to the Connity Hall to meet the Maharajah, running into an obnoxious man named Strickland. The gang steal his tickets and get him sent away. While the gang distract Officer Dibble who is the Maharaja's escort, Top Cat makes a bet with the Maharaja and gets out of him a Maharaja Talk 5000 device with many functions, as the Maharaja hasn't any rubies. The next morning, Officer Dibble is summoned to the police station to work for the Chief's son-in-law Strickland, who is taking over for the retired Chief. Strickland has replaced the staff with robots which he believes are more competent. Top Cat thwarts Strickland's attempt to evict him, preventing Strickland from getting the Mayor's funding for a robot police army. Strickland uses Trixie to keep Top Cat away from the alley while he carries his out his plan. Top Cat returns to the alley getting shunned by his gang, arrested by police and after an unfair trial, convicted to the Dog Jail on charge of stealing money from an orphanage. With the arrest of Top Cat, Strickland is granted the Mayor's funding and establishes a robot police army and a major scale surveillance camera system which restricts privacy for the city. Meanwhile Top Cat tries to keep a low profile in dog jail but later becomes popular having turned the jail into a paradise for the convicts. As for Top Cat's gang they are struggling and begin to express their disbelief in him, which Top Cat notices from the one of the security cameras. Strickland abuses his authority and starts coming up with ridiculous laws to take absurd amounts of money off people, intending to spend it on making himself even more 'handsome'. Tired of Strickland's tyranny, Trixie quits her job, Strickland fired her and turns to Officer Dibble and shows him evidence that a robot Top Cat sent by Strickland robbed the orphanage proving Top Cat's innocence. Dibble escapes to pass this to Top Cat's gang, but Trixie is captured by the police robots. After Dibble tells the gang what really happened, they all head for Big Gus to help them break Top Cat out of prison, as he owes Top Cat. Big Gus leads them through an underground passage to the dog jail and leaves. The gang apologises for their doubts about Top Cat. With their cover blown by the dogs knowing they've got cats with them, the gang and Dibble escape through a sewer hole arriving at Strickland's HQ. The gang infiltrate the building in robot guises finding Strickland his imprisoned everyone in the city and hoarded the city's cash. While Dibble distracts Strickland, the gang under the guise of robots make their way to Strickland's control centre, but Top Cat's gang are locked in Strickland's vault having tripped a silent alarm, Top Cat remaining outside. When Strickland arrives, he orders Top Cat to be annihilated by the robots. As a single robot enters, Top Cat realises the whole security system was manufactured by the Maharajah of Pookajee. Top Cat takes out the Maharajah Talk 5000 which presumably controls all robots to get Stickland. In panic, Strickland self-destructs the robot army except the single one, revealed to be Fancy-Fancy still in his robot guise. Everyone imprisoned and Top Cat's gang is released in the self-destruction process. Strickland is rendered helpless and Dibble arrests him and (on Top Cat's suggestion) sentences him to the Dog Jail. Top Cat and Trixie renew their relationship, Officer Dibble is promoted as the new Chief of Police, the gang enjoy themselves, and finally Griswald asks for a place in Top Cat's gang, which Top Cat accepts. Voice cast *Raul Anaya as Don Gato (Top Cat) *Jorge Arvizu as Benito (Benny), Cucho (Choo-Choo) *Jesus Guzman as Demosthenes (Brain) *Eduardo Garza as Panza (Fancy-Fancy) *Luis Fernando Orozco as Espanto (Spook) *Sebastian Llapur as Official Matute (Officer Dibble) *Rosalba Sotelo as Trixie *Mario Castañeda as Lucas Buenrostro (Lou Strickland) *Ricardo Tejedo as Rugelio ;English cast *Jason Harris Katz as Top Cat / Choo Choo / Brain / Griswald / Lou Strickland / Big Gus, Rory Thost, Taylor Masamitsu, and Liliana Mumy in the dub version *Chris Edgerly as Benny, Frankie Ryan Manriquez in the dub version *Benjamin Diskinn as Spook, Edie McClurg in the dub version *Matt Piazzi as Fancy-Fancy, Dee Bradley Baker in the dub version *Bill Lobely as Officer Dibble, Dee Bradley Baker in the dub version *Melissa Disney as Trixie, Mindy Sterling in the dub version *Fred Tatasciore as Robot, Gorilla *Bob Kaliban as Judge / Police Chief / Mayor Release This film was released theatrically in Mexico on September 16, 2011 in Digital 3D and regular 2D format. It was also released throughout South America. On January 23, 2012, Vertigo Films announced that the film would be released in the United Kingdom on June 1, 2012 (formerly August 20, 2012) in 2D, Digital 3D, and RealD 3D theaters. A UK teaser trailer was released in April 5, 2012. This has also marked as Vertigo's first ever animated feature film. In addition, Motion Pictures S.A. has released the film in Spain on June 22, 2012. A second UK trailer was released on May 14, 2012. The movie had a very limited 2-day release in Australia and New Zealand in selected Hoyts theaters on June 10, 2012 and was later released on DVD on August 22, 2012, distributed by Lightning Entertainment and EagleAustralia. The film is currently scheduled to be released in the United States on August 2, 2013. http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/topcat/ The U.S. trailer was released on May 7, 2013.Top Cat 3D Official US Release Trailer 1 (2013) - Jason Harris Animated Movie HD - YouTube Home entertainment The original Latin American version was released on Blu-ray and DVD on December 2, 2011 from Warner Home Video Internationalhttp://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Top-Cat-Blu-ray/35785/ as well on Blu-ray 3D in Brazil, distributed by PlayArte Home Entertainment, while the UK version was released on Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D on October 15, 2012, distributed by Entertainment One.http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Top-Cat-Blu-ray/49533/ It was the first film from Ánima Estudios to be released on Blu-ray, and the first in the Top Cat series to do so. Warner Bros. Pictures and Viva Pictures will distribute the U.S. rights, and is set to have a limited theatrical release on August 2, 2013.‘Top Cat: The Movie’: Viva Takes U.S. Rights (EXCLUSIVE) | Variety Box office Mexico and Argentina This film has earned $40,708,634 in Mexico and $15,066,652 worldwide. It has also became one of the biggest box office openings in Mexican cinema history. In Argentina, it opened #5 on its opening weekend behind Killer Elite, Dream House, The Lion King 3D, and Real Steel, earning $771,229 and grossed a total of $3,328,829. Brazil In Brazil, this film opened at #7 behind The Smurfs, Larry Crowne, Cowboys & Aliens, O Homem do Futuro, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and Conan the Barbarian, earning R$973,076. It grossed a total of R$2,231,700. United Kingdom and Spain The UK release of this film opened at #7 at the weekend box office with £437,577 from 452 theaters throughout the country, behind the UK releases of What to Expect When You're Expecting, The Dictator, The Avengers, Men in Black 3, Snow White and the Huntsman, and Prometheus, and grossed a total of £2,845,031.http://www.flickeringmyth.com/2012/06/prometheus-lands-at-top-of-uk-box.html In Spain, this film earned €34,085 on its opening weekend and grossed a total of €96,848. Overseas This film grossed $326,440 in Uruguay, 286,296 in Turkey, and $2,448,802 in Peru. Reception Though the original Spanish version of the film was received favorably in Mexico and Latin America, the English dub of the film received extremely negative reviews from UK critics. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave this film 1 out of 5 stars, saying "It's the bottom of the heap, and it frankly looks cheap, the disaster of the year is – Top Cat". Derek Adams of Time Out London also gave this film 1 out of five stars, calling this film "a pity, then, that the key elements – storyline, dialogue, comedy value – are so woefully ineffectual. An air of boredom permeated the screening I attended and laughs were universally non-existent." Colin Kennedy of Metro criticized this film, calling it "a dog's dinner of a film which will bore new viewers and disappoint old ones." and "post-Pixar kids will be bored rigid." Michelle Moore of Close-Up Film gave this film a negative review for its animation, saying "When it comes to combining the two, scenes and characters, things at times get very disordered and appear out of place." Rob of The Shiznit gave this 1 out of 5 stars and wrote, "It looks like Top Cat, sounds like Top Cat, but it doesn’t feel like Top Cat. It's as if a Mexican film company (Ánima Estudios) has taken an iconic American cartoon and slapped together a budget version... oh, wait, that’s exactly what’s happened." Bethany Rutter of Little White Lies criticized this film saying that "it's heroically unfunny, the lame script is one of many sticking points. Awkward, clunky and predictable, it propels the film forward at a pace that manages to be both deathly slow and annoyingly jumpy." Mike Sheridan of Entertainment.ie criticized this film and wrote, "In a world where studios are putting so much care into the development of characters in family aimed flicks, Top Cat just doesn’t cut it." Geoffrey Macnab of The Independent gave this film 2 out of 5 stars and said that "neither the voice work (much of it done by Jason Harris) nor the animation is distinctive. Officer Dibble has only a marginal role. The use of 3D seems entirely tokenistic (an excuse to hike up ticket prices rather than an artistic decision.)" Writing in the Daily Mail, Chris Tookey said the film, "one of the worst-ever spin-offs of a TV series", was "abysmally scripted, crudely drawn and cheaply made, with astonishing inattention to detail" and apparently "redubbed with little regard for synch by a team of justifiably unknown actors." Shaun Munro of WhatCulture gave this film 1 and 1/2 out of 5 stars, calling it a "horrid, low budget take on the classic series" and wrote "Top Cat: The Movie is a rarity; an almost completely mirthless, charmless animated film." On the positive side, Matthew Turner of ViewLondon enoyed this film, saying that " This movie provides a handful of decent laughs, though some of the jokes are a bit dodgy, the 3D effects are entirely superfluous and younger children might be a little bored." Eddie Harrison of The List also gave this film a positive reaction, saying that "adults looking for undemanding fare for their kids may find Top Cat's brand of sass, irreverence and cheeky charm offer a persuasive alternative to today's crasser children's entertainments." Based on 14 reviews, this film currently scores a 14% "Rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average score of 2.8/10.http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/top_cat_2012/ Awards and nominations Prequel Variety reported that the film's producer, José Carlos García, is working on a sequel, with a possibility of this film having a limited theatrical release in the United States. Review Top Cat is a story of a gangwar between the Top Cat and his comrades with an honest cop. The movie is inspired from the series which was released in the era of the 60's. But unfortunately a lot has changed since then and Top Cat failed to make its mark. The movie which is now available in 3D begins with Top Cat (Jason Harris) who is the leader of a mob of conmen or rather appropriately con cats (if ever such a term exists!). They hang out in the alleys of New York. They are up to no good and officer Dibble (Bill Lobely) who relentlessly finds ways and means to prevent these miscreants from causing harm. Top Cat (also known as 'TC') is somehow captured by another conman Strickland (voice given by Jason Harris) who has become the new officer of the police. Top Cat is forced to stay in the confines of the dog prison. Top Cat loyalists and gang members then embark on a mission to rescue their leader from the evil and sinister clutches of Strickland. The entire movie was simply drifting from frame to frame without making any sense. The plot too seemed gibberish after a while and even the children were not impressed by this tangled mess of characters which were loosely assembled and thrown in to form the movie Top Cat which incidentally made you dose off after a while.Top Cat 2012 Movie Review Gallery Movies top cat poster.jpg|UK teaser poster Do.jpg|Mexican release poster 172684 203562159661200 112269818790435 911979 6674959 o-350x500.jpg|Argentinian release poster 366px-Don Gato y su Pandilla película.jpg|Promotional poster PosterMandaChuva.jpg|Brazilian release poster Top cat.jpg|UK release poster Top_Cat_The_Movie_2011_DVDRip_Xvi_D_USi_01_14_06.jpg|UK theatrical release poster #2 dongatoysupandillaespana.jpg|Spanish teaser poster dongato.jpg|Spanish release poster Top-Cat-4f04e43f.jpg|Israeli poster Top-Cat-0c0cc0df.jpg|Andorran poster topcatthemovieaustralia.jpg|Australian poster Top-Cat-171d7c6b.jpg|Turkish poster Warner_Home_Video_-_Top_Cat_The_Movie_-_Blu-ray_3D_USA_box_cover_(2013).png|Blu-ray 3D USA box cover Trivia/Notes Studio connections Anima Studios/Illusion Studios *This is Anima Studios' first film to be distributed by a major American film studio, Warner Bros., since its first film, Magos y Gigantes, which was distributed by 20th Century Fox and released in 2003. **This is also Illusion Studios' first film to do so. *This is also Warner Bros. Pictures first flash-animated film. Other *This will be Vertigo Films first animated film. Release notes Latin America *This film first released in Mexico and Argentina in 2011. *This film won $40,000,000 (estimated) in its Mexican box office. *This is one of the biggest openings for a Mexican motion picture. **It is also the biggest opening for a flash animated film. International *It will be Anima Studios' and Illusion Studios' first film to be released in English-language select theaters. Trailers Top Cat The Movie - Trailer Top Cat The Movie UK trailer Top Cat 3D Official Movie CLIP 1 (2013) - Jason Harris Animated Movie HD Top Cat 3D Official US Release Trailer 1 (2013) - Jason Harris Animated Movie HD See also *Top Cat *Anima Studios *List of films based on Hanna Barbera cartoons References External links * (Latin America/Spain) * (UK) * * *Don Gato y su Pandilla Teaser Trailer in Spanish Category:2011 films Category:Mexican films Category:Argentine films Category:British films Category:Warner Bros. films Category:Warner Bros. Animation films Category:Films based on television series Category:Animated films released by Warner Bros. Category:Hanna-Barbera films Category:2010s 3-D films Category:Animated films Category:2010s films Category:Rated PG movies Category:Top Cat films Category:2D Animation Category:Movies Category:Hanna-Barbera Category:List of films based on Hanna-Barbera Cartoons Category:3D films Category:2011 in film Category:Top Cat